


Evidence

by Skyepilot



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: "real" SHIELD, "real" SHIELD kinds of sucks, Angst and Humor, Bobbi defending Skye and Coulson, Conspiracies, Coulson wanting Skye to kiss him, Dialogue Heavy, Everybody Hates Ward, Everybody switching sides, F/M, Flirting, GH-325, Gifteds, Gonzales being a jerk, Kissing, Mocking, Paranoia, Pilot Callbacks, Project TAHITI, Skye wanting to kiss Coulson, Subterfuge, This show is crazy, Ward is HYDRA, Xenophobia, mission prep
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-25
Updated: 2015-04-27
Packaged: 2018-03-25 15:49:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3816109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skyepilot/pseuds/Skyepilot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post 2x18.  Skye has returned to SHIELD and Coulson has surrendered, while Gonzales thinks they both belong on the Index together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"The Honeycomb kill room," Gonzales began to Bobbi, sitting in the chair behind the desk.

All Coulson's things were still here, surrounding her.

"That's where he kept Skye, after she changed, correct?"

"That's right," Bobbi answered, her lips drawn into a thin line.

"Designed to hold people with powers," Gonzales continued on, setting his cane against the wall. "It seems that was always a part of Coulson's mission, wasn't it?"

"May could probably tell you more about that," she replied. "Their focus shifted considerably after the fall of SHIELD. To fighting HYDRA," she added, her eyes widening slightly.

"We'll get to that," Gonzales said, cutting her off. "Put Skye in there with him."

She stared back at him and watched him shuffle some of the papers on top of the desk.

"Coulson is not the enemy, sir."

"You keep saying that," he sighed, clasping his hands together on the desk. "I'd like to see how they interact."

"I'm sorry?"

"Together," Gonzales continued. "Project:TAHITI, her connection to that alien temple. I'm sure it's no coincidence. I've read the file," he said, pushing the metal binder with the letters T.A.H.I.T.I on it towards her. "Skye was also injected with the GH-325."

"I'm aware of that, sir," Bobbi started. "Like I said, you should talk to May, I'm sure she'll be happy to explain..."

"Not necessary," he said, interrupting her again.

"Is something wrong?" Bobbi asked, narrowing her eyes at him, picking up the anxious movements he was making, unable to sit still. "Did Coulson say something to you?

"He offered to let me look inside the Black Box," he answered casually.

"That's _good_ ," Bobbi nodded, a little surprised, and relieved at the same time. "That was our objective."

"I just want to observe them, Barbara," he said, raising his palms to her. "What's the harm?

  
#

  
Skye turned behind her to watch the agent close the door, hearing the pop of the seal.

Coulson was sitting in one of the chairs, jacket off with his sleeves rolled up, forearms resting on his knees.

"I know why I'm here," she said. "What's your story?" she added, crossing her arms.

"Gonzales thinks I belong on the Index," he said, tiredly.

"Because of what?" she asked, shrugging. "The GH-325?"

Coulson shrugged back. "Guess so."

She walked towards him as he sat up in the chair and she took the one across from him on the other side of the table, looking around the room, and then placed her arms across the top of it.

"I apologize for the lack of finesse here," she said, giving him a polite smile.

His eyebrows knotted together, looking at her curiously.

"It's just...our organization has a history with people _like you_. Who go off book?" she began.

"Is that so?" he answered, putting his knee against the edge of the desk, tipping his chair back slightly.

"And, we have video of you working with Grant _Douglas_ Ward," she said, wagging her head. "HYDRA, if I'm not mistaken?"

"Guess you've got me there," Coulson said, a little cocky, trying to hide a smile. "Although, I am sitting in your secret base, right?"

"Look, there are two ways we can do this," she said smoothly, leaning forward on her arms.

"Is one of them the easy way?" he asked, bringing the legs of the chair back to the floor, staring back at her.

"Nope," she said, pressing her lips together, her eyes shining.

  
#

  
"What are they doing?" Gonzales asked, standing at the coms center watching the video feed.

May rolled her eyes. "They're mocking us," she said dryly. "Coulson brought Skye into SHIELD to help find Mike Peterson. He interrogated her. That's how they met."

"You mean Deathlok," Gonzales corrected. "Another gifted freak."

"Mike Peterson was a SHIELD agent," May corrected him, bitterness in her voice. "Coulson gave him a second chance."

Bobbi raised her eyebrows and honed in on the other woman.

"And a third, apparently," Gonzales answered, touching the tablet to pull up Mike's overhauled schematics on the screen.

They heard a giggle and looked back up to the screen to see Skye putting her fingers towards her mouth and Coulson staring down at the desktop, holding in a smile.

"I'm so happy they're entertained," he continued, the aggravation in his voice barely concealed.

"He agreed to open the Black Box for us," Bobbi said, looking over at May.

May's eyes widened slightly, but Gonzales jerked his head towards Bobbi like she was a magnet.

"Hard to believe," he said, tipping his head towards the screen. "That _that_ was the Director of SHIELD."

May worked her jaw attempting to hold in her anger. She knew he was trying to provoke her.

"Our objective was the Black Box, and he's given it to us," Bobbi replied in that tone she had when he was reaching the end of her patience.

May looked slyly over at Bobbi.

"The condition being," Gonzales said. "That we let him take in a team to rescue gifteds from a HYDRA facility."

"Did he explain what his objective was?" May said, furrowing her brow.

"He has a man on the inside. Peterson, I'm presuming, since we know he was at the location where we took Coulson into custody. And that he's more machine than man."

"Coulson turned himself in," Bobbi said, trying not to roll her eyes.

Gonzales stared back at the screen for a long time.

"Leave them in there. Overnight."

"Excuse me?" May asked, twisting her arms out of their crossed position.

"I have no idea how _your_ SHIELD handled operations, Agent May," Gonzales replied. "But I can assure you, this is _our_ operation."

He settled against his cane, both hands on the top of it.

"And I don't trust gifteds," he said, looking up at her. "Do you?"

"Skye's containment was temporary," May answered. "She's a SHIELD agent."

"This is temporary, too," he said. "I hope."

  
#

  
"I guess expecting someone to make me a really _amazing_ grilled cheese right now is out of the question?"

They were sitting on the bunk together, talking.

It had been a few hours since they'd seen anyone.

"Probably," he said, his voice sounding happy despite the circumstance. "I think they're trying to make us as uncomfortable as possible, to be honest."

"About what?" she said, exasperated.

"You know how this works, Skye," he warned.

"Yeah, but we're _SHIELD_ ," she said, looking back at him. "We're _all_ SHIELD. What the hell is wrong with them?"

"Good question," he asked, looking up towards the video feed and narrowing his eyes.

"Where were these guys when we were fighting Super Nazis and losing people and barely surviving from day-to-day?"

Coulson shrugged. "I'd kind of like to know that myself."

"And, okay, they're not the "real" SHIELD, first of all," she said, standing, mulling it over. "How about Staying Home Instead of Ending Legit Disasters?"

He chuckled. "Gonzales wants something from me."

"Which is?"

"I offered to give him all the information I have, in exchange for taking a select team to extract Mike out of the HYDRA facility."

She nodded. That's why she was here, after all. She came back with an agreement to ask for SHIELD's help to get Lincoln out. After a lot of convincing, and now, all of this.

"How is Mike?" she asked softly, sitting back down.

"I've been working with him," Coulson said. "To track down HYDRA exploiting people with powers. He's doing pretty good," he said, nodding to himself.

Skye smiled at him, as he looked down at his hands again.

"Thank you," she said, reaching her hand to his. "For believing in him."

"He's one of my agents," Coulson said, pressing her fingers into his palm. "And I'd really like to get him back."

  
#

  
"They haven't talked for the last half hour," Gonzales said, eating the sandwich in front of him as Mack checked in.

"Sometimes they don't have to talk," Mack said. "They just get each other."

"But you think there's something to this alien connection, right?" he said, taking a bite and chewing. Not what he was used to, back on the boat.

Mack looked up at the monitor, watched Coulson and Skye staring at each other from across the room.

He sighed. "Maybe. I didn't get to know her, really. She was kind of removed from me."

Gonzales sat back in his chair "What exactly is their relationship?"

Mack glanced back at Gonzales, hard. "If you're suggesting he's crossed a line, I haven't seen any evidence..."

"I guess him chasing her down into that temple wasn't convincing enough for you. Or that report you sent me about her guiding him through that memory machine."

"It's not like that," he answered, looking at them on the monitor.

"I know what he wants," Gonzales said, pointing to Coulson. "But...I'm not sure what _she's_ doing here. That's the question no one wants to ask."

"Why she came back, you mean?" Mack said. "She's a SHIELD agent."

"Who was being hunted by SHIELD. Who was taken away by another gifted, who we can't track."

"And now Coulson wants to free more gifteds," Mack said.

"Exactly."

  
#

  
"Skye," he said, perturbed. "I'm not going to ask again."

"You can't fit on that," she replied, looking at the tiny bunk against the wall. "There's always the mattress..."

"You know that's exactly what he wants," Coulson said, giving her a dodgy look.

"What?" she shrugged. "SHIELD agents share beds all the time on missions, right?"

He rubbed his face. They were both tired and they had been given very little to eat and drink all day and while he knew this was on the agenda and it wasn't exactly torture, it kind of was.

"Maybe I'm just a little too soft from being the Director?" he retorted. "Used to sleeping in my own bed?"

"Probably," she shrugged. "This might be the best way to prove him wrong, though," she proposed, kneeling down and settling on the mattress.

"Wait," she said, the light coming on. "Is he suggesting that...we...?"

"I think so," Coulson said, taking his shoes and then watch off, putting it carefully on the floor next to the mattress.

"What an asshole," she said, unstrapping her boots and reaching to put her leather jacket over the back of a chair before looking towards him sitting on the end of the mattress.

"Who gets the wall?" he asked.

"You," she grinned. "You seem like a cuddler."

He sighed and shuffled himself against the wall trying to get comfortable as she slowly moved onto the mattress and settled herself until she was facing him, but not touching him as much as possible.

"This is so awkward," she whispered. "Do you think they can hear us?"

"Not really well," he said. "The walls absorb vibrations, so there's special equipment to augment it, but maybe not the best? I was kind of involved in the design."

"Cool," she said. "Because I have some things I'd like to say to you."

"Me too," he said, staring into her eyes, so close to him, concentrating. "You first."

"Right. So, if this wasn't a SHIELD situation," she said, talking to him in that professional tone. "And we weren't being monitored right now? I'd totally want to kiss you."

He started to take a deep breath, then it caught in his throat.

"Don't make that face, Coulson. That's not your best agent face. And I do know your best agent face. _So well_."

"Sorry. You're right," he said setting his jaw, then relaxing.

"Better," she said. "After all we're both professionals here."

"I'd really like you to kiss me," he answered, all business. "I've been thinking about it for awhile, actually."

"Like from the moment we met?" she said, cocky.

"Embarassing to admit under the circumstances, but...fairly accurate?"

"Showing off Lola like that. I kind of wondered."

"I know, but, protocols and all."

  
#

  
"Looks like protocol to me," Bobbi said, looking up at the screen and shrugging.

Skye and Coulson sharing the only mattress in the room. Gonzales was probably afraid of looking like an embarassment now.

"Yes," Gonzales said. "It does. Unfortunately, we can't hear them anymore and I can't allow them that comfort. Take Coulson out of there."

"Where do you want him?" she asked.

"Give him back his own quarters," Gonzales said. "Let him have free run. But she stays in there."

"So you still don't trust him," Bobbi said, nodding.

"Not at all," Gonzales replied. "However, I think we can come to an agreement."

"I'll let Agent May know," Bobbi piped up. "She has a few questions of her own for Coulson."

"You know," Gonzales said, his voice dwindling along. "Send May to get him."

She glared back at him.

"Let him know we have someone on his side?" Gonzales said genially.

"You actually think that's a _good_ idea?" Bobbi spoke up.

"May had no problem with containing Skye before. Why should she now? Especially after what happened with Calderon?"

"He was shooting to kill," Bobbi said, putting her hands down on the desk. "It was in my report."

"Calderon's dead."

"Calderon was acting like _HYDRA_ ," she seethed back at him.

"You two never did get along," he shook his head.

"If you want May to do it," she said, standing up. "Tell her yourself."

Gonzales got up from behind the desk and reached for his cane.

"Looks like I've been outvoted."

 

#

  
"You're not very good at protocols."

"Not around you, I'm not," he answered right back.

"Wow," she breathed. "You're terrible at this."

"And you're really good at this," he offered with a smirk.

"Just gathering intel. Thinking about what I'm going to do with it later."

"What are you going to do, Skye?"

Her heart was beating so hard against her chest.

"See what you're hiding under those suits," she said quickly.

"Something you've thought about, I take it?"

"You know how I think," she said. "Once I've got a goal in mind, I start looking for exploits."

"Mmm. Care to share?"

"Right now?" she asked, her voice catching a little higher.

"Why not?" he said. "We might be here for awhile."

"You don't seem very affected. You seem very locked down at the moment."

"That's because you told me to act professional about it, so, I am."

"Kind of important, given the circumstances."

She paused.

"Do you always listen to what I say?"

"Pretty much. You haven't noticed?"

"You got rid of levels," she said, thinking it over. "And the compartmentalization stuff."

"That was a big step for me. Not as locked down as I used to be."

She stared back at him, noticed his chest falling and rising.

"What else have you been up to?"

"I've built something, Skye," he said, excitement creeping into his voice. "Something that's not SHIELD."

"Coulson..."

The seal to the room released and the door slowly pushed open.

They both sat up, seeing May looking down at them somberly.

"Coulson," she directed him. "Come with me."

He looked back down at Skye for a moment, as she raised up off the mattress to let him get to his feet.

"Coulson only," she said, looking at Skye when she started to stand.

Something about her expression made Skye think she was caught in a trap.

"Later," Coulson said easily, looking back at her with a smirk. "Get some rest."

Skye nodded, smiling back, then heard the door shut behind her.

She laid back down, stretching her body over the mattress.

It was still warm.


	2. Chapter 2

"Skye stays here, though," Gonzales said to him, putting his fingertip on the Black Box.

"That wasn't the agreement," Coulson shot back at him.  This was getting _more_ tiresome by the minute.

"True," Gonzales nodded. "But I need a bargaining chip."

He looked up at Coulson.

"You have one," he answered. "I gave you the Black Box."

"Which, I can't open without you," he said, gripping the top of his cane.

"Guess you'll just have to trust me, then."

"I'll send Bobbi with you, or Mack," Gonzales said, turning away from him back towards the chair behind the desk.  

"We don't know what we're headed into," Coulson said, stepping forward. "My sources have told me HYDRA has a pair of active gifteds. I need Skye."

Gonzales groaned and lowered himself into the chair. "Sorry, I'm stiff. Didn't get much sleep last night."

Coulson's jaw tensed.

"How did you sleep, Coulson?"

He didn't reply.

"It's not like you haven't been separated from her before," he went on.

"How about, I don't trust you with Skye," Coulson said. "Let's start there."

"You put her on the Index yourself," Gonzales retorted.

Coulson looked away. "It was temporary. Necessary."

"Because, you needed to protect your team from her."

"No," Coulson shot back, his face animated in anger. " _I needed to protect her from them_."

"Protecting gifteds from SHIELD might make some question your loyalties."

"Are you finished?" Coulson said, dismissive. "I have a mission to plan for."

"You're not in charge here, Phil."

Coulson huffed and smiled to himself. "Guess I could always tell your people what you have in the cargo hold of your ship."

Gonzales' face fell, then resumed its calm facade.

"You have 48 hours," Gonzales said. "Make contact every 8 hours. If we don't hear from you, we start a countown and send a strike force to the compound's coordinates. We'll level it. With you and your team inside."

"Guess that means no extraction?" Coulson said sweetly.

"No. You still have that Quinjet you stole?" Gonzales said.

"Yes, but, to be fair, you stole my enitre operation."

"I have work to do, Coulson," Gonzales sighed, looking down at the paper on his desk.

"You're on the clock. You should go pick up your girl."

  
#

  
Coulson had the team gathered in the Quinjet, waiting for their pilot to arrive.

All wearing standard issue HYDRA field suits except for Skye.

"Skye's sitting it out?" Fitz asked.

"No," she said. "I'm your way in. Your gifted prisoner." She held up a pair of cuffs and shook them.

"Just what is your gift?" Ward asked.

"I'll show you later," Skye smiled dangerously.

Ward looked away, clenching his teeth, then flashed his eyes at Coulson, seeing him smiling over at Skye.

"Before we take off," he said, looking at Fitz and Simmons. "This mission is dangerous. That's why I'm giving you this opportunity to back out. We have 48 hours, then Gonzales will send in drones and leave a smoking crater. We do our own extraction."

"Understood, sir," Simmons said, nodding.

"Yup," Fitz said, raising his eyebrows. "Kind of like being in the field. Where's Hunter?"

"Busy," Coulson said, and left it at that.

"Right," Fitz said, rolling his eyes. "Need to know. Got it."

"Good," Coulson smiled. "Then strap in."

They watched someone approach in wearing a suit and a helmet.

"Here's the pilot. Ready when you are."

The helmet was quickly ripped off and May shook her hair. "I'm ready _now_ , before they notice I'm gone."

"Skye," she said, smiling over at her.

Skye smiled back.

May turned her eyes on Ward as he opened his mouth.

"Things go better for you when you don't talk," she said, heading to the controls and lifting off the plane.

  
#

  
"The Index should be a last resort, not a solution," Coulson told them. "The world will need heroes, because we already know what HYDRA will do with gifteds. Simply capturing and containing them is inadequate, but it's also inhumane."

"Coulson's resources have also unearthed that HYDRA was experimenting on people who were taken off the Index. People HYDRA believed had the potential to have  
their latent gifts activated."

"Like Thomas Nash," Coulson said, turning his eyes on Ward.

Ward didn't reply.

"In fact, my sources tell me that HYDRA has two gifteds right now that have been activated based on HYDRA's experimentation. Successfully."

"Their tampering with the Diviner," Simmons concurred. "I thought they just wanted to build a weapon, but they're using _people_ as the weapon..."

"Makes sense," Fitz said. "They were trying to build an army with CENTIPEDE."

"They'll create a gifted army whether we want them to or not," Coulson said. "And people won't get to choose once they're in HYDRA's hands."

"Or SHIELD's," May chimed in from the cockpit. "Gonzales has a certain way with words when it comes to gifteds. They're things, not people."

"Some of these people didn't even ask for this to happen to them," Skye said, looking at Simmons, who gave her a sad smile.

"They deserve a chance," Coulson said. "Mike and another friendly gifted are being held by HYDRA in a facility in the Arctic Circle. We have Bakshi under our control and in place, thanks to Ward."

Ward smirked. "Until one of your gifteds levels a city. And then who will want to give a gifted a chance?"

"Not if we stop them first," Coulson replied.

"Did you finally find your clairvoyant?" Ward taunted, tilting his head.

"No," Coulson said. "Just a few people like me, who hate everything HYDRA stands for just as much as I do."

They all turned and looked at Ward.

"And we'll find more," Skye said, staring at him, then meeting Coulson's eyes.

"Sounds like you've found the solution to world peace," Ward said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Do you actually care about _anything_ you've done?" Simmons started.

"The last time I did," he said, looking at Skye. "It almost killed me."

Skye watched Simmons about to unbuckle herself mid-flight.

"Don't," Skye said. "It's what he wants."

"And _that_ is why I broke his larynx," May said from the cockpit.

  
#

  
"I can't go back to SHIELD with it like this," she said, tightening the straps on his field suit.

They were still inside the Quinjet, the others unloading equipment to get the mission into high gear.

"I can't be kept in a cage."

"Understood," he said, nodding to her, watching her eyes as her hands looked him over. "Where you've been, you're safe?"

"All good," she said, dropping her hands to her side. "I mean, _you_ , not the...other place."

He wasn't exactly tracking.

" _No_!" she reiterated, "My dad's crazy and Raina's there. But at least I'm learning to use my powers. They're not afraid of them."

"When am I going to get to see _that_ action?" he asked with a smirk, taking a rifle from her as he put it over his shoulder.

"Probably sooner rather than later," she said, the corner of her mouth tugging up at his obvious excitement. "What are you going to do?"

"Finish what I started," he said, staring back at her.

"You're not talking about SHIELD, are you?" she asked, searching his eyes.

"What about you?' he asked, evading the question. He wanted to give more time to that particular explanation.

"I think I'll do the same," she said, grabbing him by the front of his field suit and tugging his mouth against hers. He was momentarily stunned, and then was kissing her back, his fingers against her face, in her hair, putting everything into this moment.

She pulled back, looking satisfied at him smiling, at his reddened lips.

Good kisser. She'd already figured him for one, though.

Coulson clapped the handcuffs on her, as she wiggled her eyebrows at him.

" _Skye_ ," he said, a little surprised. "We'd better get down there before people start asking questions."

"Yes sir," she said, beginning to march down the ramp.

He gave her a swat on the rear as she turned to stare back at him.

When he raised his eyebrows at her, she resumed walking with a breathy laugh as he smiled following after her.

"Took you long enough," Fitz said, when they were down at the bottom.

"Just working out some last minute details," Coulson said, noticing Ward narrow his eyes at him. "Are we ready?"

"All good," Simmons said.

May stopped Coulson. "I'll have the Quinjet ready, but call me if you need me. No use in watching the jet if you're all dead," she complained.

"Okay," he said back to her, nodding.

"You seem awfully chipper," Ward said, turning over his shoulder to glance at Skye.

He just smiled back at him, cocky, then motioned ahead.

"After you."


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This the last bit. This show is crazy and it's all just speculation and snippets about where I want it to go.

"Coulson's gone."

"What to you mean...gone?" he asked, narrowing his eyes at her.

He cocked his head to see her staring straight ahead, her arms behind her back.

"Ward turned on us, took him out," May said, swallowing.

"And you're certain?" Gonzales contemplated, sitting back in Coulson's office chair.

May's eyes, glanced down to see him run his hands over the leather.

"You watched it yourself through Deathlok's feed," May answered him.

"What about the gifted?"

"Her name is _Skye_ ," May said through clenched teeth.

"Where is she?" Gonzales asked, like he would keep asking until he got his answer.

"Gone," she said, the word hanging in the air.

"That's unfortunate," Gonzales said. "I'm sorry for your loss."

Liar. May said nothing but stared down at him in anger.

"Looks like you got exactly what you wanted," she said.

"Looks that way," Gonzales said, furrowing his eyebrows at her. "We can still use you, Melinda."

"For what?" she snapped.

"All of this," he said, waving his hands around. "I'll need your help integrating our operations. Help us finish off HYDRA."

May released her arms and shifted her stance.

"Did you come back here for another reason?"

"I'm here for SHIELD," she said plainly.

 

#

  
"What's wrong with Skye?"

Jiaying sat across from him calmly, looking over the wounds on his face and hands.

"Did they break your fingers?" she asked him, looking troubled.

"Yeah," he winced. "A couple."

"I'm sorry," she sighed. "Skye said it was HYDRA."

"Yes," he nodded, trying to shut out the memories of what he'd seen in that lab. "They're doing things, to people like us. Horrors."

Jiaying felt her hand reflexively move to her face.

He could feel the anger building inside of him, there were veins of electricity beginning to dance chaotically.

"Remember your training," Jiaying said calmly. Remembering so long ago when he'd lost control.

Lincoln took at breath and met her eyes.

"Skye lost someone," he said, after a moment. "It was a man. Coulson, I think she called him."

"They must have been close," Jiaying said, standing.

"Something like that," Lincoln said. "I think he was the leader."

Gordon appeared in the doorway. "Raina has had another vision."

"Tell me," Jiaying said.

"I think you need to hear it from her yourself."

Lincoln's eyes widened at the shaking in Gordon's voice.

"Stay here," Jiaying said, putting her hand towards Lincoln. "Heal."

"I've seen things," he said, his eyebrows knotting together. "I don't think I can sleep."

"We'll send someone to help with that."

"Thank you."

  
#

  
"What's all this about shooting Ward?" he chirped. "You gave it your level best."

"I know," she said, sighing, as they unpacked their equipment in the science lab. "I'm just disappointed in myself, I suppose."

"Jemma," Fitz answered, his hand on his hip. "You're trained to save lives, not take them."

"But Ward's so...," she said, rolling her eyes. "Now I wish I'd spent more time in the Academy focusing on my marksmanship..."

"Guess we both came up short," he said. "Oh well."

"He's not really worth it, is he?" she asked.

"Nope," Fitz said. "Let's see Ward try to talk his way out of HYDRA."

Simmons giggled.

"There's something else," he said after a moment, poking a finger out at her. "Isn't there?"

"Coulson," she sighed.

"Jemma, he warned us this mission was dangerous."

"I just can't help thinking about Skye."

"What about Skye?"

Simmons eyes froze looking to the side of their intruder.

"We lost two of our closest friends in one day," Fitz said, turning over his shoulder to Mack. "What do you think?"

  
#

  
"No word yet?" Coulson said, looking over at Mike as he checked his communications feed.

"Nothing."

"What did you think about Lincoln?" Coulson asked.

"He seemed friendly. A little _too_ friendly," Mike said.

"You have Fitz's calibrations, right? Any luck tracking Gordon?"

"I'm working on it."

"Just had a wild craving for chicago deep dish pizza," Coulson mused, leaning against the desk in the safehouse.

"Maybe it's your quantum entanglement?" Mike smiled.

" _Funny_ ," Coulson said, standing up, going for his jacket.

"Skye thinks you're dead," Mike said. "Even if we do find her, how are you going to explain that?"

"I'll just have to hope she still trusts the mission," he said, patting Mike on the shoulder. "Even if she doubts me."

"You seem pretty confident about that," Mike shot back at him, as Coulson stopped in the door.

"There might be some begging involved," he confessed. "What kind of toppings do you like?"

"Anchovies," Mike replied.

Coulson winced."Seriously?"

Mike chuckled as Coulson locked the door behind him.

  
#

  
"Thanks, Gordon," Skye said, taking a bite of the deep-dish pizza. "Mmm, this is just what I needed."

"Things been rough for you the past few days."

"You finally came through with the pizza, though!" she exclaimed.

"I'm gonna be honest with you," he said, sitting down in the chair next to her. "When you first came here, I had my reservations."

"Thanks _again_ ," Skye said sarcastically, her mouth full of pizza.

"Your connection to Jiaying. I know about all of that."

Skye stopped chewing.

"You seemed like an outsider, like you were questioning us. That hasn't happened in a long time."

"Well, someone needs to ask some questions around here," she replied after swallowing the bite.

"Raina," he said. "Is making me...uncomfortable."

Skye raised her eyebrows, watching him cross his legs and grasp his knee.

She set the pizza slice down.

"Tell me what you know about her."

  
#

  
"What's he doing here?" Cal raged.

"Cal," Coulson said calmly, after bursting into the room, Mike having forced the electronic lock on the door. "Can't say I'm happy to see you at all."

Cal lurched forward as the woman next to him put her hand on him.

"We need to get to Skye," Jiaying pleaded, as Cal looked over at her.

"Mike, where is she?" Coulson said.

"Signature trail ended here," Mike said, scanning over the room, honing in on Jiaying.

Coulson looked at Jiaying curiously, but didn't say more.

"Lincoln took her," Jiaying said. "He could be dampening her powers, or worse."

"I don't want to think about worse," Coulson quickly replied. "You know your way around here?"

"Yes," Jiaying answered with a nod.

They all headed out the door.

"We have to watch him," Cal whispered, leaning against the wall as Jiaying checked the corner. "He'll put ideas in her head!"

"Like, wanting to help and be peaceful?" Coulson replied from behind them, annoyed.

"Can you both please talk this out later?" she said, turning the corner and heading down the hallway.

"The last time that happened Cal tried to kill me," Coulson said, folllowing after.

"You killed Whitehall!" Cal said, walking up next to him. "You tried to take my baby girl..."

"I miss something?" Mike asked. "Skye's an adult, right?"

Cal narrowed his eyes at Mike. "Who are you, anyway?"

"A friend," he said, looking down at his wrist. "With rockets in his arms."

"Nifty."

  
#

  
"What are you doing in here, May?" Bobbi asked, as May looked over the desk in the dark, the night vision light in her palm.

"Looking for something important."

"Shoe's on the other foot," Bobbi said, taking out her batons.

"You want to go another round?" May asked. " _Fine_. But I'll bet you're just as curious as I am about what Gonzales is really up to."

"What do you mean?" Bobbi said, playing dumb.

"What's in the cargo hold of the aircraft carrier, Bobbi?"

"How do you know about that?" Bobbi asked, slowly lowering her arms.

"The ship that Fury asked you to sink," May said, tipping her chin at her. "He gave you an order. It was in the Black Box."

"I don't know," Bobbi said, disturbed, shaking her head. "I just didn't want to lose what I had left to a secret."

"Me neither," May said.

Bobbi nodded at her, then put her weapons away and came around to where May was behind the desk.

"Gonzales likes to hide things in plain sight," she said.

"Hmm," May mused. "She turned and looked to the shelf to see the toy Lola Mack had made back on the shelf. "That's curious."

"Coulson's not dead, is he?" Bobbi asked flatly.

May raised her eyebrows at her.

"Just figured it was a play I'd make. But, how did he pull it off?" Bobbi asked, smiling, narrowing her eyes.

"One secret at a time," she said, taking the car and heading to the Lab to find Fitz and Simmons.

  
#

  
"My vision of the future," Raina said. "Showed you leading SHIELD to our doorstep."

Skye had her arms behind her, Lincoln's powers sending a steady thrumming through her body, making her feel dizzy, like when she'd been on the table when she first arrived.

"I'm not bringing _SHIELD_ here, Raina," Skye tossed back.

"What was it like, to see Coulson die, right in front of your eyes?"

She felt sick again. A different kind of sick.

"Whatever you want from me," she said. "I'm not going to help you."

"Even if it will save the lives of your parents?" Raina taunted.

Skye felt her eyes go wide, regretting her reaction immediately.

"It's complicated," Raina said, leaning down in front of her. "I know."

Raina dragged a needle across her face, as Skye winced.

"Now you look more like your mother," she said.

"That's enough," Gordon called out from behind her.

"Gordon...," Raina said, taken aback.

"I thought you were like us," he said. "But, you're not."

"What are you talking about?" she asked, narrowing her eyes.

"You want us to be weapons," he said, pointing at Lincoln. "I've spent my whole life making sure that never happens again."

"I don't want us to be _victims_ ," she said, flexing her claws. "The world says we shouldn't exist. They want us to live in fear. Ask Lincoln. What they did to him."

"They're not all the same," he answered. "And neither are we."

"Lincoln," Raina commanded, looking over at him.

"Kind of have my hands full," he replied, as Skye jerked in his grasp.

"Maybe there's another way?" Skye said. "One that doesn't involve us turning on each other?"

"You only care about SHIELD," Raina seethed back at her. "You found a family, but so have I, and I'm not going to let you take it from me!"

Raina lashed out at Gordon, as he disappeared and reappeared behind her, kicking out at her and feeling the needles on her legs cut through his boot.

He cried out as Raina swiped a claw towards him and he disappeared again.

  
#

  
"Should have guessed you for it from the start," Gonzales said, entering the hangar to the Bus as Bobbi paused. "After all, turning on Fury was your idea."

"What you're doing is _wrong_ ," she said. "You can't treat them like animals."

"They're weapons," he shrugged. "Designed to kill. To eliminate us as the next step in evolution."

"Do you watch the news?" Bobbi said sarcastically. "The world has changed. We have to change with it."

"Your co-conspirators are already in the Vault," he sighed. "Mack...was a particular disappointment to me."

Bobbi smiled.

"Do you want to come quietly?"

"How did you find out?" she asked, staring down at the floor, thinking of her next step, buying time.

"Hey love."

Bobbi's head jerked up to see Hunter standing at the bottom of the hangar. Agent 33 was standing next to him.

"Seems Coulson isn't such a good guy after all," Gonzales said, turning back towards Hunter.

Bobbi looked away, fighting back all the emotions roiling in her.

"Coulson's gone rogue," Hunter said to her. "He's danger to us all. Got some kind of robotic weapons program up and running, and he's run off to the other   
side."

"Coulson would never work for HYDRA," Bobbi said, smirking at Hunter.

"Not with HYDRA, with the gifteds," Hunter said. "With Skye, and his rather _embarrassing_ obsession. I told you, I'm tired of all the secrets."

"Agent 33," Bobbi spoke up. "Guess you're on the side of the angels again?"

She crossed her arms and stared back at Bobbi. "This isn't a tug of war," she said. "It's risking genocide."

Weaver appeared, running up the hold to Gonzales, alarmed.

"The time table has stepped up. They've already made contact."

"Your gifted friends are looking for a war," Gonzales said, agitated, walking down the ramp as his cane hit against the metal.

"It's time we got out in front of them."

  
#

  
"Maybe you didn't hear me the first time," Mike said, looking at Lincoln on the ground. "Stand. Down."

"You want to go another round?" Lincoln asked, wiping across his mouth. "Be my guest."

"I was polite the first time. How does electricity work on non-conductive projectiles?"

Coulson stood around the corner and steeled himself before he walked into the room.

"What the hell?!" Skye said, coming around the corner to stare him down.

"Skye," he said, his mouth hanging open. "I can explain."

"How could you?!" she felt like she might be sick, but for an entirely different reason.

He wanted to wrap his arms around her so badly, tell her everything. But they were already running out of time.

"I knew something was off," she started. "First Ward, then Mike was there. Like you'd let Ward just shoot you like that, that would be really stupid, right? To turn your back on Ward?!"

" _Yes_ ," he said, beginning to wonder if she'd already guessed. "We tried to send a message to you through Lincoln, but then Gordon found us. Told us about Raina."

"UGH!," she said, slamming her hand against the wall. "What was it? A robot? Like, the Koenig thing Trip was always on about?"

Coulson nodded.

She took a deep breath trying to control herself. "So, are you even the real Coulson? How do I know you're not a Coulson...bot?"  
  
He ate up her glare at him.

"You tell me."

She put out her hand towards him, and he grabbed it, pressing it against his chest.

Skye drew in a gasp and looked away for a moment, a smile slowly starting to creep over her face before she checked it.

"Okay."

"I'm sorry," he said, his chest rising and falling under her touch. "I'd like to explain everything, when we have more time.  I really have so much to explain," he added excitedly. "Gonzales is about to make his move. He has a very powerful gifted, and..."

Cal stood at the end of the hallway, watching them, his hands balling into fists.

"When are you going to let go?" Jiaying said, appearing at his side.

"He's just trying to replace me," Cal said, looking over at her sadly. "Be the man I never had the chance to be for her."

Jiaying shook her head. "Cal..." She turned back down the hall and he followed her gaze.

Cal recoiled watching his daughter throw her arms around Coulson's neck and kiss him.

It only got worse when Coulson kissed her right back.

Cal practically growled, until Jiaying touched his arm. "She's half his age!" Cal said, in an angry whisper.

"Really?" Jiaying asked.

"That's different," Cal said, smashing his lips together. "It's not the same."

Jiaying rolled her eyes.

  
#

"You're appalling," Bobbi said, as Hunter lead her to the cell in the belly of the aircraft carrier.

"You know me," he smirked. "Always a disappointment."

Bobbi took in a breath, feeling something pressed into her palm as the other agents pushed her into the room and the door was sealed.

She looked down into her hand.

The round piece of metal said _Franny's Saloon_.

Bobbi smiled.


End file.
